This is where I share my passion for music and support the bands I like ...expect intense, passionate, and radical stuff from this blog.

vendredi 29 mars 2013

Avitacion 101 / Beatriz Carnicero-Lo peor de nosotros (2013)

Lo peor de nosotros is a split with two bands from Uruguay, Avitacion 101 and Beatriz Carnicero.

Avitacion 101 plays crust with some very good female singing / screaming that sounds very heartfelt and springs life into their four songs on this split, and since the songwriting and playing are also very well crafted i'd say all crust / HC punk lovers should give it a try.

Beatriz Carnicero first record called No reces released last year made an excellent impression on me, so maybe that's why at first I was a bit disapointed with their tracks on this split. I'd say No reces sounds sharper and tighter. but don't worry, their eight grinding hardcore (or powerviolence / fastcore) songs are good anyway. but I'm waiting for another record of the caliber of No reces. If it's not already done yet I really recommend you listen to it (and read my review, with an interview of the band HERE).

mardi 26 mars 2013

Call of the void -Dragged down a dead end path (2013)

Dragged down a dead end path is Call of the void's first record but you wouldn't say so. released by Relapse the record has a professional sound and the playing of the musicians is very tight and precise. They play an abrasive kind of hardcore with some grind parts and a touch of sludge. what you find in the songs is metallic mid tempo hardcore with a dirty sludgy guitar sound and some faster parts with blast beats. it can also be described as somewhere between Converge and Rotten sound. maybe it's a bit lacking in originality and very strong elements that would distinguish them from the pack, but otherwise it's a really solid record. check it if you're into this kind of stuff.

-a few word on the formation of the band and it's evolution up to now? isn't it awesome to have a first record released by Relapse?
Basically Gordon our Drummer and I have been playing together for the last 8-9 years. When we were still Ironhorse, we went through a couple failed line ups. In the later months of 2011 we were finally able to get a line up were happy with and wanted to continue on with seriously. It is very awesome having our first album released via Relapse. Relapse is such a great label and it has been a great pleasure working with them and joining the family.

-how would you describe your record, Dragged down a dead end path?

This record is filled with awesome riffs, genuine hateful lyrics and pummeling drums.

-is grindcore one of your influences? if so how do you relate to it?

Grindcore is definitely one of our influences, but not the main influence. Essentially we live and die by the riff, if there is room for blast beats then and they make the song part better then will put them in. When writing we are not concerned whether or not things are grindcore, we write what we think sounds best. Blast beats just seem to compliment our riffs very well and make us sound grindcore-ish.

-a few words about how it was written, recorded and produced?

Basically all the songs were written in our house, which we live and practice in. The album was recorded at the Boar's Nest in Salt Lake City, Utah with our buddy Andy Patterson. Very simple processes for each.

-what is the idea behind the cover art, with these skeleton nuns?

I'm not sure what the idea behind the art is, since we left all artistic interpretation to Anthony Lucero, when he was drawing it. We simply gave him the lyrics and said, do what you would like to best represent what we are talking about. I think he did a very good job and it is one of the best album covers I have ever seen or been a part of.

-there are many bands nowadays mixing hardcore/crust and metal, what do you think is different in what you do?

The main difference is a lot of our riffs come from more of a rock background. I think a lot of those bands have a lot of influence from Swedish Death n Roll bands, which have no influence on us whatsoever. I can't really even say I like Entombed. They are a good band, but I have never really listened to them seriously. There is more Matt Pike or Greg Anderson in our music than say Alex Hellid.

-what about the lyrics of the songs?

The lyrics on this album are more a diatribe against organized religion as well as a few social commentaries. We plan on straying away from religion at this point now that it is out of our system.

-what's your feeling about the situation in the US?

I'm not quite sure on what subject you are inquiring about here. Basically in some places the USA is great and in some places the USA fucking sucks. As a society I think we need a little bit more cooperation with each other as individuals and more discourse about our government.

-do you feel like being part of a scene (Hardcore, crust/grind, Colorado, etc.,) or not especially?

Absolutely it is a great scene with a lot of great bands.

-how did you get into hardcore / metal?

Basically my heavy music listening started off as a child listening to Metallica. Then I moved on to artists like Death, Type O Negative and Cannibal Corspe in my teens. From there it has been quite a journey gathering and listening to a lot of awesome music. Hardcore and Metal spoke to me more than popular music and the rest is history.

-which bands from your area would you recommend?

Bands I'm into at the moment are, Hoax, Homewrecker, Warthog, Creative Adult and Inter Arma. Bands from Colorado I'm currently enjoying are Primitive Man, Reproacher, Gravetorn and Catholic Girls. All great dudes playing great music.

-are you touring to present your record or plan to do it?

We just returned from a 3 week tour of the United States. We have the Scion Rock Fest and Lucifest coming up this summer then we will be hitting the road again in the Fall.

-what's the next step for Call of the void?

Tour, Tour , Tour and then record our follow up. From what we have written so far, it is going to be on hell of a record.

-a final "full of wisdom sentence" to conclude?

A wise homeless man once told me at a Taco Bell that " If you get a water cup, you can get any flavor you want". I think it is a great way to view life in general, even though he was just wasted and wanted a free Coke.

samedi 23 mars 2013

Tsar bomba-Silent queen (2013)

Tsar bomba is a young band from Paris and Silent queen is their first record. It starts with an Ozzy like wail (a bit rawer) and a Black sabbath influenced riff so you know from the start that you venture into old school sabbath inluenced heavy metal. is it another doom / stoner band ? for the sabbath riffing yes, beyond that not really I would say. it's too metal for being stoner and too fast for being doom (it's not very fast, but more mid tempo than slow). if you want a comparison, Alice in chains would comes to my mind. but there's also a more metal side in their music with some trashy riffs, with an epic element that can reminds Immortal (yes really!) in second part of the first song for exemple, or some others that can reminds of Metallica's black album like in the start of the third song. So what do we have? some cool riffing, sabbath inspired heaviness and mid tempo hard rocking and trashy groove, good vocals, good songs rooted with taste in good traditions but in a quite personnal way. the only weakness I see in this record is in the production that clearly could be better (the way the drums sounds for exemple), but for a young band and a first record it is ok. Overall Silent queen is a really enjoyable record and Tsar bomba a really cool new band, already doing very well and promising to bring us more good grooves in the future. listen to / download it for free ontheir Bandcamp. (a vinyl release is coming).

mercredi 20 mars 2013

Ruined families-Blank language (2013)

Ruined families is a band from Greece (Punk from Europe's black hole they say!) that I discovered last year with their excellent "untitled" 7' (HERE is my review of this record, check also their first record, Four wall freedom, also really good). They now are back with an album called Blank language. I would say screamo / hardcore is the backbone of their music, and it has all its qualities, the emotionnally charged intensity and "always on the edge feeling". but they're far from being just another screamo band because they have some other elements in their music. For exemple the riffs often have something like a black metal vibe (more than in their previous record), but they're not another "blackened hardcore band", their sound is sharper than that and carries something like a post-punk urgency. Blank language is a confirmation of their musical quality and good taste, and I'm also pleased to see that, like in their older songs the lyrics are really worth reading.

and read this interview I did by mail with Takis of RF (I think it's a good one! interesting band=good interviews!) :

can
you present the band for those not knowing you yet ?

Ruined
Families is a hardcore punk band from Athens, Greece.

-You
just released your second album "Blank language" what can
you tell about it? What do you think it is bringing to your sound?

Blank
Language is the most definite statement this band has ever made. We
consider it a great refusal, first to ourselves and then to
everything that surrounds us.

-why
did you choose to call it Blank language? and what about the artwork?

Language
is the most common medium for communication and is always open to new
adaptations. Words are amazing and we create them, we use them, but,
on the same time we become slaves of theirs. What is supposed to make
us free now enslaves us. We try to leave open space for the listeners
to translate the title through his personal spectrum. Same goes for
the whole entity of the record.

-how
would you describe your music? A mix of screamo, metal and old school
noise / post-punk? or just pissed off punk music?

Definitions
are for people that want their life put in boxes and their choices
easily digestive. We try to avoid characterizing our sound. All
of those are valid and are elements that exist in our music, yet, we
try to call ourselves a punk band.

-a
few words about your previous records?

In
our previous records, it was us playing like the bands we would
listen to. This LP is us being one of the bands we'd like to listen
to.

-on
your bandcamp page you present the band as “Punk from Europe's
black hole” what do you mean by that? Is Greece, because of the
crisis, the point that is revealing the deep failures of European
civilization?

Greece
is the prime example of a European country collapsing on a financial
and social level. Also, it has been used as a scapegoat and an
experiment of neoliberalism in Europe. This situation is a global
problem presenting in more different countries presenting the lack of
unity inside the European Union with whole countries being used as a
"bad student". The strongest countries use the weakest ones
and under the debt factor they make profit and expand their power.

I
think the European Union has failed to become a Union of people and
the Euro currency works only as an excuse for this plan. I think we
should reconsider the European Union at its current status, equalize
the balance and then plan another Union that will work for the
people.

-what
does “punk” means to you, a kind of music, an attitude? The scene
where both meets? The smell of bourgeois culture burning…or a
marketing label?

Punk
is a way of thinking. Beyond the spikes and the patches, punk was
created as an output for rage and reaction to different social
models. There is less and less radicalism in the hardcore/punk
movement and we can see it getting branded every now and then in
order to make new scenes or new markets. People should be in the
position to criticize and take everything into consideration and punk
is definitely something to be considered as well. Radical thinking
and critique is the true nature of punk.

-what
is the usual writing process of Ruined families?

The
band works on a theoretical level on what we want to do and then it
usually bursts into music. We are not a jam band, but, we may turn
into one.

-did
the riots and protest movement influenced you and your music?

Definitely.
The every day transformation of the urban landscape influences our
music. The center of the city becoming a war zone, then getting back
to be a marketplace, then getting fortified with cops and drowned in
teargas then getting back to be a nightlife destination is certainly
something unique.

-what
can you tell about your lyrics? the impression I have is that express
the miseries of daily life, the frustration that goes with trying to
catch some intensity and freedom in life in a society which only
admits fake intensity and freedom.

We
try to criticize the world around us and any institution or
tradition. Every rule is created by man, thus, it's open to be
reconsidered and used for man's good.

Freedom
is definitely an objective matter since freedom can't be defined by
any system or way of thinking. Apart from "deodorant" or
"motorcycle" fake freedom there's true will hidden in
people. Still, from the moment you grow up and you're poisoned with
fear, so, it's difficult to distinguish the lines.

-there
is a sense of twisted poetry in those lyrics, do you spend a lot of
time writing them or is it more a spontaneous process?

I
consider the lyrics of "Blank Language" to be the most
stripped-down thing i have ever done, still, trying to remain
relevant. I didn't try to write in a certain way, but, i'm a reader,
so, i suppose it comes naturally.

-do
you think the crisis and the struggle resulting from it in Greece
(and elsewhere) can be a beginning for some revolutionary changes? An
occasion for rebuilding human relations on a different basis?

I'm
not really positive about change. I think the crisis helps people to
come together on a certain level, but, in the same time to feel more
self-centered and egoistic. Not all people are willing to care about
the world around them, even when their life gets worse.

-in
an interview you mentioned Debord and the Situationist International
(among others) as an influence, what do you think is most relevant
from the situationists for today? And what attracted you in their
theory/practice?

S.I.
was a movement that shaped in a big part the temporary left
wing/antiauthoritarian activism and a lot of the DIY aesthetics can
be found in them,as they had a radical approach on art and
politics.As for today, S.I. identified with the mοvements of the
past and it would be deferred to point it as a guide for today.These
are the problems of today's leftism,remaining stagnant and following
dogmas, but, we can't deny that was one of the first (besides Henri
Lefebvre) that imported the problem of everyday life in politics.
Τhis well educated, but, lost generation without a purpose can find
a lot in the IS and how to find weapons and front this political and
cultural crisis. Debord and Vaneigem had acute political intuition
and stayed out of dogmas making some unique verifications about the
modern life and urbanism.As for Jorn, his approach on art is
something that had an impact on us.

-which
band from your area (or from Greece) would your recommend?

There's
a huge scene going on with really great bands. Here are the first
that come in mind.

mercredi 13 mars 2013

Mudweiser-Angel lust (2013)

Mudweiser is a band from Montpellier (south of France) which plays some good hard rock / heavy metal in a stoner / southern US metal vein. Angel lust is their second album and is released by Head records. there's many good thing in this record, and one of the best thing is its diversity, in the song, and between different songs. you have the heaviness of course, in rocking songs with a big fat groove. you have also the melodies in some "power ballads" (but also in the rocking songs as well). you even have the accoustic quiet moment (there "has to be one" in this type of record but it's not a bad thing and the one in this record "Blackbird" is a cool song).you also have clean but powerful vocals, and the occasional cool hard rock solos. meat and potatoes. this enjoyable record will do nicely for drinking times or quiet laid back times.check it on Bandcamptheir bassist Jay answered by mail to my questions about his band (it's in french):

mardi 12 mars 2013

Needful things-Tentacles of influence (2011)

If you're looking for some straight to your face grindcore this record will do. Tentacles of influence, released in 2011 is I think the second full lenght album of the Czech grinders Needful things. The riffing with crust punk and trash flavours and the simplicity of the song structure relates Needful things music to the old school of grind whereas the rapidity and density of the drumming relates clearly to modern grind (the especially fast drumming and the trashy riffing reminds me of The kill sometimes). the overall result is a well crafted and very efficient album that most grinders will enjoy.

vendredi 8 mars 2013

Mars red sky (2012)

Mars red sky is a new band from Bordeaux (France) that released their first and self titled full lenght album in the end of 2012. they plays a psychedelic rock with a fuzzy stoner sound and manages to do a good mix of 70' influenced rock and a more modern approach, taking what's good in the old school but without sounding retro at any times. some of the songs are really excellent, not just good riffing but also good sogwriting with variations of feels throughout the record. but what maybe is their main stenght is the excellent clean singing and melodic vocal lines. just do yourself a favor and check it on their BC page.

mercredi 6 mars 2013

Badgod music is a label founded in 2011 and dealing underground and uncompromising music. each of its thirteen band plays a variety of extreme and dark music in brutal or more subtle ways, ranging from death / black metal to indus / noise / ambient experimental music.

you can learn more about Badgod music and its bands on its website :badgodmusic.com

you can also read below what Dave, the man behind Badgod music, answered to my questions :

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-on your facebook page we learn that Badgod music was formed in 2011, what were your motivations then? what was the project at the start?I was and still am hosting a radio show on non-profit station near Vail CO. I accept promos from a number of labels and pr firms as well as independent artists. Many of the unsigned artists fascinated me because I thought their material rivaled or surpassed that of artists on labels – large or small, Doing the radio show I had the good fortune of meeting Never To Arise, Trillion Red and Black Crow King; in fact Gordon Denhart (Never To Arise) was my first “friend” on Myspace as I was setting up a page for my show. Being the paranoid introvert that I am, I immediately checked him out and that led me to his band. I was blown away! Connections with Trillion Red and Black Crow King subsequently followed. I started the label with the simple goal of helping artists I enjoy reach more people.At the start, the label consisted of three bands and the desire to spread their musical manifesto.

-how did you get into music and metal?For as long as I can remember I have been interested in music. When I was very young I listened to the radio during much of my spare time. A relative bought Kiss ‘Alive’ for my brother. At first we were both horrified, but after multiple listens I was hooked. AC/DC followed and that quickly led to a slippery metallic slope starting with the standards : Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, etc..Despite having limited to no musical aptitude, three friends and I did form a band in high school. It was a joke at first but we did build a rather large fan base quickly and we actually got on the radio and played a handful of gigs before disbanding when we started college. I played drums for a while but as I had no sense of timing or rhythm, I quickly moved to vocals, which fit as I wrote most of the lyrics.

It was for the better that we did breakup because we had strayed from our Misfits/Dead Kenndedys/Ministry roots to something of a Yes/ Metallica/Men Without Hats hybrid with a Yoko Ono thing going on.

-you already signed a few band and released quite a lot of record for a new label in two years, I suppose Badgod music takes a lot of your time?It definitely does take up a large amount of my time and I would hate to actually sit down and calculate my hourly wage, but I am passionate about it and I like the challenge of starting a label from scratch and bringing it and the bands a level of notoriety that will shock and awe.

-were the band you signed bands that you knew already or bands that you discovered after the birth of Badgod music?As mentioned, I knew Never To Arise, Trillion Red and Black Crow King before starting the label and they were the initial inspiration to take the first steps towards global musical domination. A recent signing, Denver thrash/doom trio The Casket Crew, I knew of before starting the label. It took a while to work up the moxie to sign them as they scared the shit out of me and these feelings proved to be well-founded as they proved to be hard-asses when it came to negotiations. Inferion approached me through the recommendation of Clawhammer PR. They were another band I had played on my show, so was well aware of them and absolutely rapturous when Nick Reyes approached me.

-how do you pick the bands you want to work with?There has to be an initial spark but I will also listen to the artists dozens of times before making a decision. I never have any preconceived notions of who or what genre I want to sign. Whatever turns my crank at the time but I want to make sure the crank keeps turning.-although the majority of the Badgod music bands are playing death or black metal you're not limited to that with bands more noise / ambient as well, was this diversity something you wanted from the start for Badgod music?When I first started out, I did consider what kind of label I wanted it to be, and decided I did not want to pigeon-hole the label, aside from maintaining a feeling of darkness, malevolence and heaviness. As I enjoy a wide variety of heavy music, the thought of dealing with only death or black metal would have been hard for me.

-it seems that your released has most of the time an "evil" (overtly and brutal or more sneaky) global presentation, music, cover, lyrics, etc..I suppose from the name of the label that it not just coming from the bands but is also your idea of what should be a badgod music release?Yes, the idea is to maintain an overall feeling of evilness or brutality, even if these can be subversive at times. I believe the bands currently on the roster have no problem maintaining the label’s overall feel now or will in the future.

-what is your most successfull release yet?

That is a difficult question to answer as I feel they have all been successful in their own way, garnering overall very positive responses from critics and hoi polloi alike. Ever the diplomat!

-a few words about your most recent releases?

Summarizing the latest releases in a few words would be a difficult task. The year started off with an unrivaled storm of malevolent ugliness in the form of the industrial/power-electronics of Project:Void’s ‘The Anthropogenic Process’. It is limited to 100. Another limited release is the Trillion Red ‘Echo Road EP’. It possesses a darker, heavier sound than the recently released ‘Metaphere’. Unlike ‘Metaphere’, there are no subtleties: it mercilessly uses the doomscape as its stomping ground. Uvikra’s ‘Bi’ is one of the most interesting slabs of blackened death you will ever hear: production that gives no quarter to pretense and an almost sinuous chord progressions that immediately envelopes the listener in a stranglehold of dread and hopelessness. And the most recent release: ‘The Grace Of Pettiness’, a split between Back Crow King and Thoreous, is a wild sludgy queef of musical experimentation that may push the Grammys to inaugurate a new category. Coming soon is King Carnage’s ‘Ounce Of Mercy, Pound Of Flesh’: a violent and raging Black/Death concoction that will split heads.

-what can we expect from Badgod music in the coming months?

More wonderful weirdness, darkness, heaviness, brutality and overall exciting musical shenanigans that will take music and people’s lives to unparalleled heights of introspection and exploration.

lundi 4 mars 2013

Inter arma-Sky burial (2013)

Sky burial is the third record of Richmond's Inter arma and their first one with Relapse. their first one was the very good full lenght Sundown in 2010, the second release was the excellent Destroyer EP. about this EP read the review I wrote, with the interview that comes with it HERE.

I said their music could evokes a collide between Mastodon and Enslaved, and I think it's still the case for Sky burial, not because it's really close to one of these bands but more because this comparison leaves room for many different possibilities and one thing very important in their music is that they try many different things, explores many different paths. Destroyer had a lot of diversity in its song and Sky burial goes further down this road (taking two songs that were in Destroyer along the way). what do you want? black metal aggression? hard rocking stoner like heaviness? a dark atmosphere? quiet accoustic moments? melodies bordering psychedelia? post-hardcore song structure slowly growing the song to a final epic apocalypse? you'll find all that in sky burial, and not only that. but the good thing with this record is not just the diversity, it's that the smart songwriting manage to mix all these elements without turning everything in a messy hodgepodge. it's not an accumulation of elements, it's really songs, memorable and powerfull. and the quality of the execution goes with the quality of the songwriting, so it's excellent songs played with excellency (check for exemple the final of the title track, sky burial, its riffing drumming madness really carries you somewhere else!).

samedi 2 mars 2013

Vuyvr-Eiskalt (2013)

Vuyvr is a band from Switzerland, featuring membres from Knut, Impure Wilhelmina, Elisabeth and Rorcal. considering this lin-up it's not surprising, first that Vuyvr music is good, and secondly that their black metal is not strictly traditionnal. on their new record, Eiskalt, the basis is raw and blastbeating black metal, ferocious and intense. and to this agressivity they add some epicness and melody, in a way that remins a bit Emperor (but rawer and without keyboards..), but also some post-hardcore elements making their sound bridging the gap between old school and modern black metal. merciless blast beats and subtility? a meeting of black metal and modern hardcore? intense and uncompromising music? you'll understand easily why this release is a collaboration between Blastbeat mailmurder productions and Thoatruiner records.

you can have this release (come on, you must have this release!) eiter as a digital free download, or on vinyl (the more aggressive song on the A side, and the most melodic / atmospheric ones on the B side).